As part of the National Tourism Safety Strategy, the Department of Tourism recently launched the Tourism Monitor Programme by deploying 220 tourism monitors in Mpumalanga.

The programme is an initiative by the department to supplement the SAPS’s safety and security measures to enhance tourism safety, which is paramount to attract more tourists to the country while creating youth employment.

The launch was held in Hazyview on December 12 and was attended by the minister of tourism, Patricia de Lille, and her deputy, Fish Mahlalela, the Mpumalanga police commissioner, Lieutenant General Semakaleng Manamela, the Mpumalanga Parks and Tourism Agency’s (MTPA) CEO, Mduduzi Vilikazi, and other tourism stakeholders such as the Kruger Lowveld Chamber of Business and Tourism.

De Lille said the department has set aside R174.5m to deploy just over 2 300 tourism monitors at key tourist attractions across the country. “The monitors will be deployed at strategic ports of entry, national parks and other attractions across the country to assist with tourism and safety-related information and matters.”

She said earlier this year the private sector launched the Secura Traveller Tourism Safety app and an operations centre to assist tourists with a range of services they may need in the event of an incident. The app links tourists to more than 200 service providers, including private security companies and medical and translation services.

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“The tourism monitors will be equipped with the My SAPS app, including a tourist safety guide and the Secura Traveller app, which has been set up by the Tourism Business Council of South Africa. We encourage tourists to download the app, too, as it puts a host of emergency and other service providers under their fingertips.”

Working closely with the MTPA, the department finalised the appointment and the deployment of the 100 monitors in various key areas.
Some of the areas include Lowveld View, God’s Window, Pinnacle, Berlin Falls, Mac Mac Falls, Sabie, Graskop, Pilgrim’s Rest, the Gorge Lift, Mashishing, Lebombo and Jeppes Reef border posts, the KMI Airport and some sites in Hazyview.

More monitors will be placed in the Albert Luthuli, Msukaligwa and eMakhazeni local municipalities. They will all be clearly identifiable by their uniforms.

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De Lille said they were aware of the several attacks on tourists in various areas in recent weeks and months, and said the tourism sector is determined to work together with all stakeholders to enhance tourism safety measures.